Sahih Bukhari

Sahih Bukhari (in Arabic صحيح البخاري, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī) is a collection of hadiths (narrations) by a non-arab, al-Bukhari, who was born in Persia around 200 years after Muhammad's death [1]. He collected narrations which were transmitted only orally for generations. Although he started collecting the orally transmitted stories generations after Muhammad's death, the collection is called "authentic" (sahih). The "authenticness" of a narration is judged by subjectively judging the people in the chain of narrators (if they were good truthful Muslims). In the English translation of the hadiths, often only the last narrator (the one who narrated it to Bukhari) is mentioned, and sometimes only the first narrator from the time of Muhammad is mentioned.[2] But in the original Arabic, there is always a long list of narrators. This collection of hadiths is considered (by sunni Muslims) to be the most authentic along with the collection Sahih Muslim. It is also part of "the six books" (الكتب الستة, Al-Kutub as-Sittah), the most trusted hadith collections in sunni Islam. There are over 7000 narrations in the collection, but there are often different versions of the same story, so the actual number of narrations is less than 3000 [3].

Contents

Bukhari's original manuscripts

They are lost. His work was transmitted to us by his student al-Firabri. So technically, Bukhari and Firabri should be added to the (already long) chains of narrations of every hadith.

Translations

The whole collection was translated to English by Muhsin Khan. His translations uses the 97 books version. The collection was translated into many other languages.[4]

The English text often isn't a literal translation of the Arabic original. For example the book "كتاب السلم" (kitaab us-sallam, book of payment) is named "A book of Sales in which a Price is paid for Goods to be Delivered Later". Other times they are so literal, that they are actually not translation, but only a transliteration, for example "Khusoomaat" (Quarrels).

Just like in the Qur'an translations, when the Arabic original text is too violent or absurd, the English translation uses euphemisms, transliteration, mis-translation or just doesn't translate it at all.

For example, in the 58th Book (with only a transliterated name) "Jizyah and Mawaada'ah" (the tax and the peace treaty), the first chapter is named:

In English: "Al-Jizya taken from the Dhimmi"

In Arabic: "باب الْجِزْيَةِ وَالْمُوَادَعَةِ مَعَ أَهْلِ الْحَرْبِ"

باب (baab) - chapter

الْجِزْيَةِ (al-jizya) - (of) the tax

وَالْمُوَادَعَةِ (wal-mawaada'ah) - and the peace treaty

مَعَ (ma'a) - with

أَهْلِ (ahl) - people

الْحَرْبِ (al-harbi) - (of) the war

We would expect that the English word "dhimmi" is a transliteration of the Arabic word dhimmi (ذمي), but the name of the chapter actually says "people of war" (أَهْلِ الْحَرْبِ, ahl il-harbi) and doesn't use the word dhimmi (ذمي). This might be even called "mis-transliteration". Also the chapter mentions the Mawaada'ah (الموادعة), the peace treaty (of not killing them), while the translation says only "jizya".

Ambiguous numbering

There is more than one way of numbering the hadiths in this collection. Every hadith has it's own number (from 1 to 7495 [5], 7563[6] or 7658 [7]), but the collection was also divided into volumes and books. There are either 93[8], 97 [9] or 98 [10] books and there are 9 volumes (in the 93 books version). So for example, if someone tells you about a hadith in the book 98, you might find out your collection has only 93 books and the hadith is actually in the book 93 in your collection. Also what is in one version considered as two separate hadiths might be in other collection considered to be one big hadith. So we can't tell how many hadiths are there.

In the 93 books (USC-MSA) version, the hadith numbering is not from the first hadith of the whole collection, but from the first hadith of the first book of the volume. The hadith identificator is volume:book:hadith. For example, 9:84:53, is the first hadith of the book 84, and it has the number 53, because volume 9 started with the book 83 and the book 83 has 52 hadiths. The same hadith could be described as 88:1, because it is the 1st hadith of the book 88 in the 97 books version (or 89:1 in the 97 books version). It could be also described with one number 6918, as it is the 6918th hadith from the beginning of the whole Sahih Bukhari collection (in the 93 books version). And it could be also described with the number 7004 (more than 6918), because in the 93 books version, some hadiths from the 98 books version, were "joined" and considered to be one hadith.

This is a list of all names used in different versions [11]. The first three columns "98", "97" and "93" contain a number of the book with the name "Book name" in the 98, 97 or 93 version. The last three columns Q98, Q97 and Q93 contain the number (Quantity) of hadiths in the book "Book name" in the 98, 97 and 93 books version. "x" means that a book with this name is not a part of that version (the hadiths which would be in that book are in some other book instead).

98

97

93

Volume

Book name

Q98

Q97

Q93

1

1

1

1

Revelation

7

7

6

2

2

2

1

Belief

51

51

49

3

3

3

1

Knowledge

78

76

81

4

4

4

1

Ablutions (wudu)

114

113

111

5

5

5

1

Bathing (ghusl)

44

46

45

6

6

6

1

Menstrual periods

37

40

37

7

7

7

1

Ablution (rubbing hands and feet) with dust (tayammum)

15

15

15

8

8

8

1

Prayer (salat)

165

172

127

x

x

9

1

Virtues of the prayer hall (sutra)

x

x

27

9

9

10

1

Times of prayers

78

82

77

10

10

11

1

Call to prayers

265

273

122

x

x

12

1

Characteristics of prayer

x

x

134

11

11

13

2

Friday prayer

65

66

63

12

12

14

2

Fear prayer

6

6

5

13

13

15

2

The two festivals (eids)

37

42

36

14

14

16

2

Witr prayer

15

15

14

15

15

17

2

Invoking Allah for rain (istisqaa)

34

35

31

16

16

18

2

Eclipses

24

25

23

17

17

19

2

Prostration during recital of Qur'an

13

13

13

18

18

20

2

Shortening the prayers

37

40

35

19

19

21

2

Prayer at night (tajjud)

63

68

68

20

20

x

2

Virtues of prayer at Masjid Makkah and Madinah

9

10

x

21

21

22

2

Actions while praying

27

26

40

22

22

x

2

Forgetfulness in prayer

14

13

x

23

23

23

2

Funerals

149

158

155

24

24

24

2

Obligatory charity tax (Zakat)

116

118

95

x

x

25

2

Zakat ul-Fitr (ramadan charity)

x

x

10

25

25

26

2

Pilgrimage (Hajj)

247

259

235

26

26

27

3

Minor pilgrimage (Umrah)

33

33

32

27

27

28

3

Pilgrims prevented from completing the pilgrimage

17

15

14

28

28

29

3

Penalty of hunting while on pilgrimage

46

46

44

29

29

30

3

Virtues of Madinah

24

24

24

30

30

31

3

Fasting

119

117

111

31

31

32

3

Praying at night in Ramadan

6

6

16

32

32

x

3

Virtues of the night of Qadr

11

x

x

33

33

33

3

Retiring to a mosque for remembrance of Allah

21

21

21

34

34

34

3

Sales and trade

193

192

178

35

35

35

3

Sales in which a price is paid for goods to be delivered later

16

18

20

36

36

x

3

Shuf'a (pre-emption)

3

3

x

37

37

36

3

Hiring

25

26

25

38

38

37

3

Transferance of a debt from one person to another

3

3

10

39

39

x

3

Kafalah

9

9

x

40

40

38

3

Representation, Authorization, Business by proxy

18

21

17

41

41

39

3

Agriculture

28

31

28

42

42

40

3

Distribution of water

31

33

29

43

43

41

3

Loans, payment of loans, freezing of property, bankruptcy

24

25

38

44

44

x

3

Khusoomaat (quarrels)

15

16

x

45

45

42

3

Lost things picked up by someone

15

14

12

46

46

43

3

Oppressions

43

44

43

47

47

44

3

Partnership

22

25

22

48

48

45

3

Mortgaging

8

8

8

49

49

46

3

Manumission (freeing) of slaves

42

43

47

50

50

x

3

Makaatib (slaves trying to be free)

6

6

x

51

51

47

3

Gifts

69

71

65

52

52

48

3

Witnesses

62

53

50

53

53

49

3

Peacemaking

20

21

19

54

54

50

3

Conditions

24

27

22

55

55

51

4

Wills and testaments

45

44

40

56

56

52

4

Fighting for the cause of Allah (jihaad)

311

309

283

57

57

53

4

One-fifth of booty to the cause of Allah

63

65

89

58

58

x

4

Jizyah and mawaada'ah (tax on dhimmis and a peace treaty)

30

34

x

59

59

54

4

Beginning of creation

137

136

130

60

60

55

4

Prophets

156

163

116

61

61

56

4

Virtues and merits of the prophet and his companions / merits of sunnah

152

160

183

62

62

57

5

Companions of the prophet

136

127

118

63

63

58

5

Merits of the helpers in Madinah

179

173

166

64

64

59

5

Military expeditions led by the prophet

510

525

465

65

65

60

6

Prophetic commentary on the Qur'an

516

504

501

66

66

61

6

Virtues of the Qur'an

89

85

81

67

67

62

7

Wedlock, marriage

189

188

177

68

68

63

7

Divorce

101

100

85

69

69

64

7

Supporting the family

23

22

23

70

70

65

7

Food, meals

96

94

89

71

71

66

7

Sacrifice on occasion of birth

9

8

8

72

72

67

7

Hunting, slaughtering

71

70

69

73

73

68

7

Al-Adha festival sacrifice

31

30

28

74

74

69

7

Drinks

67

65

63

75

75

70

7

Patients

38

38

38

76

76

71

7

Medicine

94

105

92

77

77

72

7

Dress

194

187

179

78

78

73

8

Good manners and form

266

257

245

79

79

74

8

Asking permission

78

77

71

80

80

75

8

Invocations

106

108

104

81

81

76

8

To make the heart tender

186

182

172

82

82

77

8

Divine will (qadar)

27

27

25

83

83

78

8

Oaths and vows

89

87

81

84

84

79

8

Expiation for unfulfilled oaths

16

16

18

85

85

80

8

Laws of inheritance

47

49

47

86

86

81

8

Limits and punishments set by Allah

31

88

31

87

x

82

8

Punishments of disbelievers at war with Allah and his apostle / Disbelievers

52

x

49

88

87

83

9

Blood money

55

57

52

89

88

84

9

Dealing with apostates

21

22

20

90

89

85

9

Saying something under compulsion

13

13

12

91

90

86

9

Tricks

28

29

26

92

91

87

9

Interpretation of dreams

68

66

59

93

92

88

9

Afflictions and the end of the world

90

89

81

94

93

89

9

Judgements

87

89

81

95

94

90

9

Wishes

22

20

20

96

95

91

9

Accepting information given by a truthful person

21

22

21

97

96

92

9

Holding fast to the Qur'an and sunnah

98

103

96

98

97

93

9

Oneness, uniqueness of Allah

194

193

184

Conclusion

Sahih Bukhari is a collection of narrations from people who lived with Muhammad. The word "sahih" means "authentic", but since Bukhari started collecting them hundereds of years after Muhammad and all of the narrations have a long chain of narrations (like "someone said, that someone else said, that someone else said, that she said, that he said that Muhammad did something"), it is questionable, whether those narrations are actually authentic. Nevertheless this collection is considered to be the most authentic by sunni Muslims.

The English translation by Muhsin Khan is not very reliable.

The collection is divided into 9 volumes and volumes are divided into books. There are more than 90 books. One book can contain from a few to hundereds of hadiths (narrations). Since the numbering of both books and hadiths is problematic (there are more numbering methods), we can't say how many books and how many hadiths there are. Also we can't say which book contains the biggest number of hadiths. But we can say that (in all numbering methods) the 3 biggest books are:

Military expeditions led by the prophet

Prophetic commentary on the Qur'an

Fighting for the cause of Allah (jihaad)

So two out of three biggest books of narrations about Muhammad's life are about killing people. The book "Military expeditions led by the prophet" contains over 500 hadiths. While the book of "Peacemaking" contains less then 30 hadiths. From this we can conclude that killing people was a very big part of Muhammad's life (of his "sunna").